How Lincoln Chafee Got His Facebook Account Back

Once presiding over two Facebook pages, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, a 2016 presidential contender, has lessened his burden to one. Photo: Lincoln Chafee Facebook

Memo to future candidates for the Oval Office: maybe get your Facebook page squared away before you announce? Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who announced his White House bid Wednesday, ran into trouble when he tried to access the Facebook page he used while governor of Rhode Island. He could not recall the account information, Bloomberg Politics reported.

Chafee's wife posted a message to her private account, asking if any of her husband's staff remembered his password. A Chafee spokesperson has verified the post's authenticity.Photo: Screenshot from WPRO630

Beyond his wife's appeal for help, Chafee's campaign team reached out to tech staffers from his former administration when he served as governor from 2011 to 2015.

Chafee’s current committee launched a Facebook page dedicated to his 2016 campaign. As of Wednesday evening, the page had generated less than 200 "likes." However, his governor’s page, which he had used during his term, had just over 6,000 "likes" and was verified by Facebook. And so, the campaign thought to merge the two.

“There is confusion now as supporters are trying to access Lincoln Chafee’s new Facebook page to follow his presidential bid, and the old page comes up first in their search,” Chafee’s spokesperson Debbie Rich told Boston.com Wednesday.

But no one could recall who set up the page. In fact, a specific telephone number had been used to set-up the account, Chafee's spokesperson wrote in an email.

Thankfully, the Facebook team was there to help. “With all of the official announcement activity yesterday, Facebook's Political team reached out to our campaign to merge the old and new pages and resolved the issue,” Rich wrote in an email. With permission granted from Chafee’s team, Facebook was able to merge the pages. Other Facebook users who wish to merge pages would have to submit a request.

Now, facebook.com/GovernorChafee is no longer available. If you’re looking for the Senator on Facebook, head here. He’s also on Twitter with @Chafee2016 (95 followers -- not yet verified) and @LincolnChafee (16K followers -- verified).

In the social media era, political campaigns can’t seem to run without a Facebook page. For the 2012 presidential election, then-candidate Obama ran an aggressive Facebook strategy, spending $52 million on online advertising compared to Romney’s $26 million, Business Insider reports.